At the Down-Turned Jagged Rim of the Sky - Very Good, Based on 3 Critics

AllMusic - 80Based on rating 8/10

80

Ohio-based sonic sorceress Jessica Bailiff's sporadically released albums always come with the sense that huge and mysterious things have been happening behind the scenes. Her last proper album, 2006's Feels Like Home, appeared silently, turning over the dark waves of fuzzy guitar textures and post-shoegaze drone rock that made up her earlier work for a largely acoustic collection of melancholic, U.K. folk-inspired fare.

Jessica BailiffAt the Down-turned Jagged Rim of the Sky[Kranky; 2012]By Ray Finlayson; December 7, 2012Purchase at: Insound (Vinyl) | Amazon (MP3 & CD) | iTunes | MOGThey say every story has two sides, and the songs on Jessica Bailiff’s fifth album keep this lesson in mind. Each track on At the Down-turned Jagged Rim of the Sky has its own subtitle, in a manner similar to Radiohead’s Hail to the Thief, leaving much to the imagination of the listener. While the subtitles might shine a little more light on what’s being sung about, they also deepen the pool of possibility.

From her first records in the last gasp of the 1990s, the Toledo, Ohio, songwriter Jessica Bailiff carved out her own space. She's collaborated with Dave Pearce of Flying Saucer Attack, and is in once sense his U.S. equivalent. Though both touch on slowcore and shoegaze, they are are impossible to pin down, playing with any number of other bands; both make songs that range from short piano pieces to 20-minute feedback driven monsters.